Duquette “absolutely” has ownership’s backing to add pieces at the deadline

The Orioles are in it to win it this year, as executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette said Saturday that he has the ownership’s full backing to add pieces externally if need be. Baltimore entered the day 1 1/2 games out of first place in the American League East and will approach the Trade Deadline as buyers, looking for ways to continue what has been a surprising start to the season.

“We’re in contention, and we need to look at all the options we have to help our team,” Duquette said. “But we have some pretty good options in our Minor League system to bolster the team that we have here.”

Speaking before the game, along with manager Buck Showalter, to season ticket holders as part of the club’s annual “State of the Orioles” address, Duquette told the group assembled principal owner Peter Angelos “wants to win this year”. He reiterated that sentiment in meeting with the media, saying that he “absolutely” had the support of the Orioles ownership to do whatever he feels is in the team’s best interest.

“We are in contention, so we are going to do whatever we can to make the playoffs,” said Duquette, who inherited an organization with 14 consecutive losing seasons when taking the reins this winter.

Under previous president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail’s four Trade Deadlines, the club was in a decidedly different state, trading away relievers George Sherrill, Will Ohman and Koji Uehara and first baseman Derrek Lee in hopes of bringing back something for the future.

Duquette – who has stressed building the organization through the amateur and international efforts — made it clear he wouldn’t sacrifice the Orioles’ top prospects, but he wouldn’t hesitate to make a move that betters this year’s club without crippling the current farm system.

“I like to build an organization, so that we have depth throughout the organization,” Duquette said.

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so u think dan will give up some draft picks and some players to land greinke to add more depth to the rotation for the bullpen? i think that would be great but i wonder if he is really gonna do that and pay a lot of money for him to stay with the team.

so do i but can they really give up the money that zack greinke really wants to have in order for him to come to baltimore and will he be able to make the rotation more better and will angelos do that and give up the money cus the last time we wanted to get good players angelos didnt want to give up the money for them so let see if he is willing to do that with zack greinke.

The Orioles had a good piece for the puzzle in Jamie Moyer and left him get away. In the 2nd half and down the stretch, he would have been a good mentor for the younger pitchers and a stabilizing force for the entire pitching staff. Sure, he is 49 and it would be silly to consider him as a “building block” for the future but his knowledge of pitching and the game would have been so very valuable to have. He may have been able to work with Matusz and find something that Adair hasn’t seen. Good luck Jamie and if you do hook up with another club, it hopefully won’t come back to bite us in the rear but if it does, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. I would rather have had Moyer then Hunter, Eveland or of course everybody’s favorite – Kevin Gregg.

He would have had to come up now was the problem. I agree with you that Moyer would be good to have later in the year if needed. The O’s were hoping he would agree to stick around in Triple-A for another start or two, but he opted not to.

hey britt i wouldnt mind seeing the orioles have their young guns come up and help the bullpen out but i think we have a good shot at makin the playoffs this year if they stay healthy and plus i cant wait to matt lindstrom make his return to the orioles rotation and i wonder if the orioles will get some new players to join the team and when will the o’s bring up dontrelle willis cus i wanna see him come and pitch

Three main ingredients for a playoff team. Pitching ,Defense and hitting. We have the pitching at the major league level and the right guys at the minor league level to compete. WE DO NOT HAVE THE DEFENSE OR CONSISTENT HITTING to make the playoffs. We must obtain a 3rd baseman of above average, fielding and hitting as well as a 1st baseman and a left fielder. As much as I hate to see Reynolds go I think Davis is a better player to keep considering his age and up side. Gregg and Reynolds with a /Tillman, Matusz,Arrieta should get a decent 3rd baseman and outfielder. First base is a real problem.however, with Davis, Johnson and Betemit and Reynolds all sub par players overall. They all can be useful for certain situations but we need consistent everyday play at first. Chavez, Tolleson, Pearce and Flaherty are not the answer in the outfield.. That said, Dan must make a couple of key trades or acquisitions for a second half run to the play offs. Can’t wait too see what Dan has in his bag of tricks to get us to the playoffs. Go O’s

All I see in DD’s comments is a lot of him saying “we can bring up minor leaguers who can help” and a lot of him not really saying much of anything about really going after a top-tier major leaguer. Maybe he just has a good poker face, who knows. But if we had a bunch of minor-league players who are so good that they can put the O’s over the edge into the playoffs, WHY AREN’T THEY UP ALREADY? Bundy and Machado aren’t ready. Britton is nice, but he isn’t a top-3 rotation major league starter, sorry. I don’t see any huge bats down at AA or AAA that will really solidify this lineup. I wish DD would at least say the O’s are targeting a big-time player of some sort. Because right now all I hear is “Bundy and Machado are off the table” and “we have guys in the system that can help.”

what do u think of the orioles trading some players to the phillies to get jim thome as their DH in their line up and have wilson betiemt as their third baseman and mark renyolds as their first baseman and have nick back out in the outfield

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